PORTSMOUTH (AFP) - British Prime Minister Andy Burnham held his first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a UK naval base, pledging new “Stone Cloak” jamming technology to help safeguard Ukraine’s drones on the battlefield. The meeting on the dockside and on board an aircraft carrier in the southern city of Portsmouth was Burnham’s first bilateral with a foreign leader. 

 

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Chad announced plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, accusing the judicial body of ineffectiveness and bias against African countries. The West African country submitted a letter to the United Nations to begin withdrawing from the court, which was established to prosecute people responsible for humanity’s worst crimes under its foundational treaty, the Rome Statute. The withdrawal process takes at least a year. Chad was the fourth African country since 2025 to begin withdrawing from the ICC. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced last year they would stop participating with the court based in The Hague.

 

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PARIS (AFP) - Several high-risk industrial facilities in southwestern France have suspended operations or activated emergency safety measures as massive wildfires continue to spread across the Gironde and Landes departments, threatening strategic aerospace, defense, energy and chemical sites. According to French media reports, authorities ordered the evacuation of some industrial sites, while hazardous materials and sensitive equipment were moved to secure locations as the fires advanced toward key industrial zones around Bordeaux. French Economy Minister Roland Lescure said more than 13,000 businesses in Gironde had been affected by the fires, with many temporarily halting operations or evacuating their facilities.

 

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CAIRO (AP) — Protesters demonstrating against ongoing power outages in Libya stormed a key energy complex overnight and closed gas lines that fuel power plants, which officials warned could trigger a nationwide power blackout. Demonstrators in the capital Tripoli, Zawiya, Misrata and other locations across western Libya have protested for several days over hours long power outages. They demand better electrical services and have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. As part of the ongoing protests, a group stormed the General Electricity Company’s Mellitah Oil & Gas complex about 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Tripoli. The disruption could cause a complete blackout in multiple areas and ultimately collapse the electricity network, the company warned in a statement Tuesday.

 

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KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Rights group Amnesty International voiced concern on Tuesday after Malaysian police detained more than 100 Rohingya asylum seekers at a UN facility in Kuala Lumpur. The group had traveled by bus to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) compound in the capital early Monday, after being threatened with eviction from their informal settlement in northern Penang state the previous day, according to local media reports and UNHCR.